The Valley baseball team moved closer to the CIML Conference title by sweeping a doubleheader on Monday at Ankeny.
The eighth-ranked Tigers posted a 3-2 victory in the opener, then completed the sweep with a 12-3 win. They snapped Ankeny’s seven-game winning streak in the process.
“Valley has a good number of arms who do a really nice job,” said Ankeny coach Joe Balvanz. “And it can be tough to hit against them when you see a different guy in each at-bat.”
Valley completed its conference schedule with a 16-8 mark and improved to 22-12 overall. The Hawks’ records dropped to 8-14 and 14-21.
The Tigers were tied for first place with No. 3 Johnston and No. 5 Waukee Northwest heading into the week. The Wolves lost the second game of a doubleheader against Southeast Polk on Monday and finished at 15-9.
Johnston (13-7) still has four games remaining and could win the outright crown with sweeps over Dowling Catholic on Tuesday and Ankeny on Wednesday. However, Wednesday’s twinbill will only be played if it has an impact on the conference race.
Balvanz used Monday’s games as a tune-up for Friday’s Class 4A substate quarterfinal at No. 7 Indianola. Will Davies started the second game and allowed just three hits in four scoreless innings, but was lifted after throwing 54 pitches.
“He pitched well, but we had him on a pitch count,” Balvanz said of Davies, who earned his 100th career strikeout. “And after we took him out, we gave up back-to-back six-run innings. But we did come back and score a run in the bottom of the sixth to finish out the game, so I appreciate the effort.”
Hunter Minner (1-4) took the loss. He allowed four earned runs on three hits in the fifth inning.
Brady Carter went 3-for-3 and had two RBIs for Ankeny, while Kobe Behrens doubled and scored a run. Samuel Sandvig went 1-for-3, scored two runs and drove in another.
Valley’s Colton Roemmich went 3-for-4 and knocked in two runs. He had one of the Tigers’ three doubles.
Roemmich also doubled and drove in two runs in the first game, when Valley scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. He was also the winning pitcher with two scoreless innings of relief.
Zach Halverson (1-4) took the loss. He allowed three earned runs on five hits and had six strikeouts over the first 6 1/3 innings.
“Zach pitched really well,” Balvanz said. “He was very efficient. I thought he looked really sharp.”
Easton Lowe went 2-for-3 and scored a run for the Hawks. Carter and Jackson Romig each had an RBI.
“We only had five hits and struck out 10 times,” Balvanz said.
Ankeny will play a non-conference game on Tuesday at North Polk (18-11). The Comets are riding a five-game winning streak.
